


Amanda - You and I

by TheEmpressAR



Series: "Deleted Scenes" #TeenLawRusso - Complete [24]
Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: #AdultLaRusso, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt, Epilogue, Leaving Home, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 12:02:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15242967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEmpressAR/pseuds/TheEmpressAR
Summary: Another ANGSTY Ending!!  Will Daniel and Johnny get back together?  What happens to Amanda?  What is waiting for the future??  All questions left answered...and unanswered!!Chapter Song:  Amanda - Boston





	Amanda - You and I

**Author's Note:**

> Well this IS the end, my friends!! I couldn't leave this loose end tied up, and I did it with a nice big PRETTY PURPLE BOW<\---Empi loves purple!! 
> 
> I hope you have enough FEELS left to FEEL the #AdultLawRusso conclusion!! 
> 
> Again...it has been a DREAM to write for you all. I love this ship and all who sail with it....I hope to bring you more fun in the future!! I am happy to take bunnies if they happen to hop in my path...because I am always and forever a writer!! 
> 
> Thank you again, to all of my LOVELY READERS who have stayed with me along the way...from the bottom of my pea-pickin lil ole Empi heart!! You make me happy!!

_Babe, tomorrow's so far away_  
_There's something I just have to say_  
_I don't think I can hide what I'm feelin' inside_  
_Another day, knowin' I love him_  
_And I, I'm getting too close again_  
_I don't want to see it end_  
_If I tell you tonight will you turn out the light_  
_And walk away knowin' I love you?_

 

Daniel was exhausted.  He was an emotional wreck.  The past couple of days had taken him way out of his comfort zone.  And now as he drove around town, in the middle of the night, he thought of what had just happened.  What the span of thirty minutes took to bring thirty-four years crashing down on his head.  What had he said?  What had he done? 

He was shaking.  Waiting at a stoplight.  He didn’t know where he would go next.  He didn’t know who to turn to.  He was alone.  He hated it.  He had no idea where he was, until he brought himself out of his tormented thoughts.  He recognized the neighborhood. 

Somehow he found himself in the Reseda area.  His car must have instinctually took over and this is where he knew he’d eventually wind up.  How close was he?  He looked across the street.  Of course.  Right in front of the building.  He frowned.  He couldn’t escape even if he tried.  He was determined to drive past the building.  The light turned green.  He stalled.  He sat there staring at the building.  The sign.  Willing it to disappear from his view.  He blinked and it still stood there.  Mocking him.  Making him think of all that was waiting inside.  Someone beeped behind him, shaking him out of his reverie.  He moved forward.  Past the building.  Driving.  He had to deal with this on his own.  He only made it to the corner.

Flipping around and driving back he went into the parking lot.  He wasn’t expecting anything.  He had been here a few times before, once he remembered to rub the rent increase into Johnny’s face.  He realized he was a bastard for doing that, Amanda making him draw those conclusions.  But at the time, he was certain that Johnny had forced his hand.  He smiled slightly at the method of which Johnny sent his message.  He should have known all along.  He parked and turned off his engine.  The convenient store was still open, lights blinding.  He scanned the area only seeing a homeless lady wandering the parking lot.  He didn’t find her threatening as long as she stayed where she was.

Daniel finally drug his eyes back to the dojo’s storefront.  It was dark.  He didn’t expect it to be open at this time of night.  He expected its owner to be home in bed or somewhere…a bar…something.  He hoped upon hope that he wasn’t there.  Daniel had just come to think.  He put his head down on the steering wheel as he gripped it.  He allowed himself a single sob.  It shuddered his body.  He shut it off quickly and wiped his eyes.  He would fix this.  He had to fix this.  His brain had been numb after being thrown out but it was beginning to start up on him again.  He looked at himself in the rearview mirror.  His eyes were tired.  “Let it alone, for once.”

He stayed there another 10 minutes before curiosity and resignation got the better of him.  He just wanted to look through the glass.  See the changes that had been made to the place since the last time he was there.  Maybe just to feel a sense of closeness.  He walked up to the building his shoes scuffling in the gravel kicking up dust. 

______

 _I'm gonna take you by surprise_  
_And make you realize,_  
_Amanda_  
_I'm gonna tell you right away,_  
_I can't wait another day,_  
_Amanda_  
_I'm gonna say it like a man_  
_And make you understand_  
_Amanda_

 

Amanda lay in her bed for the second night with an empty space beside her.  She put her hand out to feel the mattress.  The memory foam left a slight indentation of her husband underneath the comforter and she traced the lines.  She had stopped crying but her breath occasionally spasmed, the kind of breathing that comes after a good cry.  She was still angry.  She was still upset.  She was still so confused as to how all of this happened.  If she was honest with herself the last thought she had was not entirely accurate.  She knew all along.  She just refused to believe it.

Her thoughts brought her back to a night some thirteen or fourteen years ago.  It was Daniel’s 20th high school reunion.  They had been married for about three years or so and still newlyweds in Amanda’s eyes.  Daniel had been nervous about attending, but Amanda was always one for keeping up appearances.  She had often pulled Daniel to events. She was really the driving force for him becoming a successful businessman and bringing them up from the mediocre life that she had found him living.  A baby tree shop?  Well it had been a start…but she had seen so much more potential in him.  She loved him the moment she laid eyes on him.  He looked so helpless carting around a bunch of bonsais in the back of an old pickup.  The little old man with him appeared almost too frail to do most of the work himself.  She found out how devoted Daniel was to the man and she admired that about him. 

They had come to her for advertising.  She was a young manager of an advertising firm in the middle of Los Angeles.  They hadn’t made much of a name for themselves back then and were somewhat on the cheap side of things.  Daniel didn’t look like he came from much when he walked in the door.  His eyes caught hers immediately and when he smiled, she knew she was meant to marry this man.  It was corny then…it was cornier now.  But something had just told her, there was something extra special about him. 

It was a struggle when they first got married and had a baby on the way.  Daniel had many odd jobs, still trying to keep Mr. Miyagi’s tree business afloat.  Amanda always had an analytical business minded talent and her college degrees reflected that.  She took over for Daniel who seemed to be content to let her.  He had a stubborn streak, and sometimes when he got angry, there was no rational way to deal with him.  She would let him explode and then he would come back to her, sorry and repentant.  He would constantly tell her he didn’t want to lose her.  He seemed desperate and clingy that way. 

 

She got him involved with the car dealership and was impressed with his immediate abilities to get customers in and charm them into buying automobiles.  He had a talent for spinning good yarns and making people feel like they needed to buy a luxury automobile, because they were people that deserved it.  Everything took off at lightning speed after that.  They sold more cars, she ran the books, and they were a powerful team. 

If she had any complaints it was only that Daniel didn’t like intimacy much.  Sure he was attentive.  Sure he was romantic.  There was just something.  Something that whenever they got too close or too deep, he would pull away.  Shut himself off.  Only do what was necessary as a husband’s role should be.  Countless times she tried to talk to him about why they never felt as close as she wanted them to feel as a couple, in a marriage.  He insisted everything was fine between them.  That he loved her.  There was always that lingering doubt in the back of her mind.

A few times in their relationship, she had seen Daniel lose his self-control. There had been a handful of occasions where he tried to become forceful in his lovemaking.  He had tried to do things with her that she was not comfortable with.  She could tell that he needed it and that he would become increasingly frustrated and pent up when he couldn’t “get it out of his system” she had called it.  She had tried.  She had tried more than once.  But it was just something she never felt she could get into…even with proper lubrication, she just felt wrong when they tried.  On those rare occasions, he would leave her lying in the bed and he would go to take a shower.  Once she heard him softly calling someone’s name.  She couldn’t make it out but when he came out, he seemed to be back to normal.

Over the years she just accepted their relationship as normal.  Their success and happiness was a trade-off for lack of physical and emotional intimacy.  She was surprised when Anthony was born.  It had happened when Daniel had tried to revive his karate interest.  It had worked him into a real frenzy and she had reaped the benefits of that time.  She had gotten another child and he had retreated again into wherever he went after the realization hit him.  Everything went back to routine.  Make money.  Live Well. Constantly try to please the public. 

At the reunion, Daniel was jitterier than he usually was.  He was on edge.  Amanda could read her husband.  She watched his eyes dart about the room.  He was looking for someone.  She remembered putting a hand on his arm.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah…yeah I’m fine.”

She knew he was distracted.  She had linked her arm with his and asked her to introduce him to some of his old friends.  Daniel looked at her with a strange look and shook his head.  He had taken her to meet some of his teachers and the school secretary, Mrs. Grimes, who was much older but still just as careless.  She vaguely remembered Daniel and just gave the usual pleasantries she had given everyone else who had stopped to talk to her. 

There was a point where man with a bald head came over to talk to Daniel.  She watched as he got a faraway look in his eye and jumped up grabbing the man’s hand and shaking it furiously. 

 

“Bobby Brown…how the hell are you??!!” 

He had introduced Bobby to Amanda and they went over to the corner of the room to talk.  Amanda watched with a smile.  She hadn’t seen her husband that animated in quite a long time. 

Amanda frowned in her sleep.  She turned over, knocking the box of Kleenex off to the floor.

“Are you his wife?”

“Pardon me?”

“Daniel’s.  Are you his wife?”

She turned to see a pretty, slim, young woman standing next to her table.  She had flowing blonde hair with just a hint of a touch of grey here and there.  She was well-put together and Amanda could tell she came from money. 

“Why…yes?  Are you a friend of Daniel’s?”

Amanda noticed that her eyes grew hard at the mention of being friends.

“We were….once.”

 “Would you care to sit down…Ms….?”

“Schwarber.  Call me Ali.” 

They had talked politely for a few moments.  How it was going to this school. Where she had moved off to.  Her marriage.  Her new baby. 

Ali paused and then looked over to where Daniel was still talking to Bobby and a few other classmates that had happened to stop over.  Amanda was curious as to why she kept her head turned away from the group. 

“I feel you should know something about your husband.”

“Ok…what’s this about?”

“Has he ever…said anything to you?”

“Said anything?  What do you mean?” 

She looked as if it pained her to say the next words.  Amanda’s hand clinched her table napkin.  The woman was making her nervous. 

“We were….boyfriend and girlfriend in high school.” 

“Oh…well…I didn’t know that…seems we shared the same interest then.”  She said trying to make things lighthearted.

Ali’s mouth was grim.  “We weren’t the only ones.”

She proceeded to tell her how she had another boyfriend.  One that was good to her in a lot of ways, volatile in others.  Things didn’t work out between them.  They had too many hard times, he was too arrogant, almost borderline violent with her.  She needed another kind of man and he wasn’t the one.

“I met Daniel.  He was just the boy I was looking for.  Silly and sweet.  He had a charming way about him.  Like I couldn’t refuse him if I tried.” 

Amanda nodded her head.  She knew that Daniel well.

“Suddenly…and it seemed like out of nowhere, my ex-boyfriend and Daniel were getting really close.  Really chummy.  I would start seeing them everywhere.”

“I see.”

“No you don’t see.  Johnny…that was his name…he hated Daniel.  The first time he saw Daniel he beat him up.  He beat him up for talking to me.  He was so jealous.  So violent.  His karate had made him that way.”

When she mentioned Johnny, Amanda was drawn away to thoughts of her husband telling her that there was a blonde pretty boy named Johnny that he had beaten in his karate tournament in high school.  She subtly put the puzzle piece in place. 

“Soon it was like they were inseparable. I was seeing less and less of Daniel.  I would get calls, but he was just never there.  We stopped going on dates, doing all things that boyfriends and girlfriends do.”  She looked over at Daniel and frowned, making sure he was still far enough away.

“Then the tournament came.  We were better. We were getting along.  I was on his side the entire time.  I was good support.  He only had himself and his sensei and his mother otherwise.  I was foolishly naïve enough to think that he had me as well.”

“I’m sure everything turned out ok!”

“Huh…well…you tell me how ok everything should be when you look up from congratulating your boyfriend on his win finding him in the arms of your ex-boyfriend…kissing him!”

Amanda rolled over in bed and looked at the empty space once more.  She pounded her fist against it.  “Damn you…”

“Mom…are you ok?”  Sam said in the doorway.

“Yes…yes I’m fine honey…trouble sleeping?”

“Yeah…where’s dad?”

“Your father….Your father…is…”

Sam immediately sensed that her mom was upset.  She crawled into bed with her and wrapped her arms around her mom.  She held her close and shushed her as she watched tears roll down her cheeks.  She had rarely if ever seen her mother cry.  She didn’t know what to do but hold her and comfort her the best she could.

“Can you stay in here with me tonight, Sam?”

“Sure mom.”

She wrapped her mother in her comforter and let her settle back into a fitful sleep.

 

She remembered the seriousness of Ali’s face when she told her what had happened more than twenty years ago. 

Amanda had huffed an incredulous laugh.  “You’re kidding me right?”

“I only wish that I was.”

Amanda looked at her husband who at that moment looked up at her at the table.  He was saying goodbye to the people that were around him and slowly making his way back over to her. 

Ali stood up. 

“I just wanted to let you know.  It’s not over between those two.  You ask your husband.  You make him tell you.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You have no reason to believe me.  I just want you to have the chance I never did.  I went through years of hell afterward but I got my life together.  They can’t hurt me anymore. I suppose it was all just crap that a teenager and a young woman goes through…at least that’s what my therapist told me.  Just…ask him.”

She got up and disappeared as quickly as she had appeared.  Daniel had reached the table to catch the curve of her calf, the whisper of her hair as it turned the corner. 

“Who was that?”

Amanda had brushed the question off and they left soon after.  She had pushed that bit of information into her subconscious.  Daniel had never mentioned Ali to him when they had gotten married.  Come to think of it he never mentioned any of his old girlfriends.  He had told her about the time he went to Okinawa with Mr. Miyagi but he had only said that the time there was not a good experience.  He was only happy that Mr. Miyagi had found happiness.

Amanda muttered something and opened her eyes.  Sam had flopped over onto her stomach on her father’s side of the bed.  She was fast asleep.  She covered her firstborn and sat up, propping herself against the headboard.  She looked at the rings on her finger.  She pulled them off and studied them. 

_“You haven’t been yourself since that dojo opened.  Fighting with Sam’s friends, kicking tea out of Tom Cole’s hands, raising the rent on the strip mall.  I just want my husband back.”_

She remembered the tension between them when Johnny showed up on their front porch that morning. If she had only seen the signs then.  All she saw were two old high school rivals, acting like idiots on her patio.  If she had just changed her perspective, maybe she would have seen something else. 

She still hadn't.  Up until that very moment.  Of reaching under the counter.  Pulling out the bag.  Finding the clothes.  Smelling him.  Seeing blonde hairs on Daniel’s sleeves.  The truth hit her.  Hit her in her stomach to where she dry heaved into the sink.  She fought with her brain that upon hearing its cue…unleashed a torrent of evidence upon her.  The thought unbidden.  _‘There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.’_

Amanda put the rings in the velvety box they had come in that were resting beside her nightstand.  She had searched it out earlier that day.  She was trying to come to a decision.  She was regretfully sure that this was the right thing to do.

 _So, it may be too soon, I know_  
_The feeling takes so long to grow_  
_If I tell you today will you turn me away_  
_And let me go?_

\--------

Daniel pushed on the glass door to the dojo.  He was expecting it to be locked but it pushed forward giving way to the bell which rang loudly throughout the darkened room.  He stepped back for a second.  This wasn’t right.  _‘This place should be locked up by now.’_ He heard a rustling in the back.  A low groan.  Daniel’s heart skipped.

“Go away…we’re closed.”  Confused mumbling from the back room.  Daniel stood there.  He couldn’t speak.  His hands held his car keys.  All he had to do was turn around.

“Who’s out there…now?”

“It’s me…”  He said breathlessly the words barely forming.

Johnny came out of the shadows.  He stood in the door way.  His clothes rumpled looking like he had been asleep at his desk.  He stared at Daniel as if he was a dream.

“I…I only came back because…”

Johnny took a step forward.  A wide silly grin forming on his face.

“I…mean…it’s not like I was meaning to come here…”

Another step forward.  He didn’t say a word.

“I just….I just wanted to ask you about something you said earlier.”

Johnny closed the gap between them and didn’t allow Daniel another word.  He grabbed hold of Daniel pushing him toward the row of windows at the front of the building.  He kissed him quiet. 

“Oh…god…” Daniel said closing his eyes letting Johnny kiss his mouth, his hands instantly going to his hair.  He flipped Johnny, pressing his back against the glass and kissed him with all the trapped and pent up energy he had been collecting since the end of the tournament. Since he had left him that morning, hot and eager in the hotel bed.   Quick kisses over his cheeks and lips, causing Johnny to moan, pulling Daniel’s hips to his own.  He wasn’t going to hear anything but the sound of Daniel’s desperate breathing in his ear.  He wrapped his arms around Daniel squeezing him until he gasped for air. 

“Slow down, LaRusso…”

“I can’t…I want this…”  Daniel said desperately fumbling with Johnny’s belt buckle.  He needed the skin on skin contact like water to quench a desperate thirst. He was frantically scrabbling at Johnny’s shirt. 

“Let me help…”  He felt Daniel’s hands shaking against him. 

He took them and rubbed them until he stopped trying to fight to rip his clothes off.  He loved the turn of events and he was becoming just as desperate.  It was only the amount of alcohol he had just consumed and his previous visitor that had kept him grounded.  Kept him from becoming just as frantic.  He could see that Daniel was warring with something inside of himself.  He knew him well enough for that.

“What is it?”  He said between more kisses.

“I don’t wanna talk about it, please…I just need to feel you…I want…”

“You tell me after…promise me.”

“Anything.”

They were both grinding helplessly against the other.  Johnny long, slow and deep movements against Daniel’s desperate push into his fabric.  He was harder than he felt the night before.  Johnny’s head was foggy with lust and his thoughts were swimming out of focus.  He growled and put his hand between their two urgencies.  He gripped Daniel and watched as Daniel’s eyes fluttered and he gasped.

“Don’t make me tell you to slow down…again.”

“Mmmnnn…” Words failed him.

Johnny stroked him through his pants.  Setting a slower, more delicious pace. Daniel whimpered.  “That’s…nice…don’t…please don’t stop…”

“Are you going to be good?”  Johnny said pausing to take off his t-shirt. 

Daniel gulped.  “I can’t promise you anything at this point.”

“I’ll take what I can get.”

He began making quick work of his button down shirt and Daniel let him remove it tossing it to the floor along with his own.  Two smooth chests pressed together was almost more than they could stand.  Johnny took a handful of Daniel’s hair and pulled his head back attaching himself to his favorite spot on his neck.  He licked and kissed more moans and sighs from the trembling man in front of him. 

Hopping out of pants proved more difficult than it had in their younger days.  They had to stop and collect themselves and they still fell down on the mat as each tried to take off jeans and slacks and do it without looking incredibly stupid.  Daniel fell down hard on his hip, flailing and pulling Johnny with him. He had one leg out of his jeans and one still on.  They both laughed in pain.

“Ouch…I thought we were supposed to be good at this?  This whole balance thing.”

“I can’t really think about balance when all my brains are in my dick.”  

“Real class, John.”

“Get over here…I’m sure you're the epitome of rational thinking right now.”

Daniel shook his head and crawled over to Johnny who had successfully managed to pull off pants and underwear and sat there only with one sock on and one sock off. 

Daniel began kissing him on the lips and slowly worked his way down Johnny’s body.  Johnny tried to participate, but Daniel pushed his shoulders back indicating he wanted him to stay still as he worshiped every part of him.  Kissing his soft skin, his pecs, kneeding into his side.  Johnny watched his dark head from above, bitting his bottom lip, clenching and unclenching his hands, aching to urge Daniel further down.  He knew he held a fragile bird that could take flight at any moment…so he let him do what he wanted.  “Daniel…” he breathed. 

“I can do so much more with this mouth than just sell cars…” he grinned against Johnny’s stomach making it quiver when he swirled his tongue around his navel. 

“Don’t you dare stop where you’re heading LaRusso…I swear to God…”

Daniel smiled and looked up at him with his still large and luminous eyes.  There were a few more dark circles than he used to own and a lot of pain trapped behind them, but he was still that young cocky boy from Reseda full of sass and confidence.  Johnny will never forget that face for as long has he lived.  His cock twitched invitingly under Daniel’s lips. 

“You’re killing me.” 

“Then let me make it a quick and painless death.”  Daniel said taking Johnny into his mouth.  Johnny squeezed his eyes shut tight.

“There better be nothing quick about this, LaRusso.”  He ground out between clenched teeth.

Daniel laughed around him sending vibrations up and down.

“Uuhh… _shit_.  That feels too fucking good!”

Johnny grabbed Daniel’s hand as he got to work.  Licking and sucking and teasing and tasting and making Johnny’s head spin… “Where…where did you…that thing…right there…don’t…oh dear god…” Daniel hummed along the length of him.  He had years to make up for.  He had more to show him.  One more smile…one more lick…one more tease and Johnny went right over the edge into the abyss.

Hours later, two sweaty bodies laid wrapped around each other.  The cool of the room settling over heated skin.  Daniel head was nestled tightly under Johnny’s neck and Johnny’s chin rested on Daniel’s forehead.  Blissful contentment.  Johnny stroked Daniel’s sweaty arm and shoulder.  Soothing circles into tired muscles.

“How do you feel?”

“Like so much weight has been lifted.  So tired.  I could sleep for weeks.”

“You’ve been through a lot.”

“You have no idea.”

“I know how you are, LaRusso. You can’t get through a day without trying to put something right.  It’s just who you are.”

“Yeah…and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better.”  He sighed his lip trembling.

Johnny listened.  He didn’t push. 

“She’s leaving me.”

Johnny exhaled.  He knew what that felt like.  He knew what was going on inside.  He continued to rub Daniel’s shoulder.  He probably hadn’t been on the receiving end of too many break-ups.  His own had been experiences that left him with no heart left in his chest to be abused anymore.  He had had a take it or leave it and mostly leave it attitude in regards to love ever since Daniel abandoned him.  But he knew how the hurt could affect someone. 

“I’m sorry.”

“We built a life together.”

“Then you need to get your house in order, LaRusso. Know what you want and stay firm with that.  You’ve been doing well for the past 20 something years.  If that’s where you’re meant to be, then you know what you need to do.  All things can be fixed in time.”

“How did you get to be such a wise guy?”

Johnny didn’t answer.  He exhaled a long breath.  “You have a decision to make.” 

 

\-----

The sun came up over the horizon.  The pale light of day cast shadows in the dozing pair.  Johnny got up first, collecting clothes and looking at how uncomfortable Daniel looked sleeping on the hard mat. 

“Hey…” he nudged him with his foot.

“Oh man…my neck. What time is it?”

“Time to get up…early still…I have my students coming in soon.”

“Oh…crap…where are my…” Daniel saw Johnny holding them out to him. 

“You can put them on back there.” 

An hour later, Johnny was leaning over the door of Daniel’s car.  His forehead pressed tenderly against Daniel’s, his hand covering his, not wanting to let him go again.  They kissed a meaningful kiss with eyes closed, tasting sadness tinged with hope.

“I’ll see ya around.”

“Yeah…”

Daniel drove off.  He had called Amanda from Johnny’s office.  She was allowing him to come back in and collect some clothes, a few things that he needed.  He would probably spend some time at the dealership, in the back room.  She was not going back for a while.  He completely understood. 

He walked through his home.  His daughter looked up at him, moody…eyes full of accusation from the couch.  He knew she would side with her mother.  He didn’t even know if she knew what was going on…but women had a way of sticking together.  Anthony didn’t care.  He just stayed on his game, barely looking up as his dad walked around the house.

 

Amanda stood with her arms folded leaning against a door frame.  She had tried for her best “righteous indifference” look, but failed and just watched him move about the house dejected. 

He looked at her his face saddened.  He wanted to say so many things to her…but nothing seemed right.  Nothing seemed good enough.  Not even a thousand sorrys could cover this.

After packing his bag…he went into his dojo.  He looked around.  He wanted to make sure he didn’t leave anything he needed behind in the room.  A wooden box was calling to him from the mantelpiece that held Mr. Miyagi’s picture.  After bowing to the picture, he went to the box.  He didn’t know what he was expecting to find.  A desk key for his office desk. A code for the safe.  His hand closed around something small and oval shaped.  He rubbed his thumb over it, the memory instantly rushing up from his brain before he even pulled it out.  He smiled as his finger found the ring and slipped it through.  He lifted up the old and faded surfboard key chain that Johnny had given him all of those summers ago.  The ‘Daniel’ had almost worn off and some of the paint had chipped but it was still in pretty good shape. He closed it in his fist bringing it to his heart.  He knew what he had to do.

He went out to his wife.  “We need to talk.”

 

 _And I feel like today's the day_  
_I'm lookin' for the words to say_  
_Do you want to be free, are you ready for me_  
_To feel this way_

And tomorrow may be too late

 _I'm gonna tell you right away,_  
_I can't wait another day,_  
_Amanda_  
_I'm gonna say it like a man_  
_And make you understand_  
_Amanda_


End file.
